22 



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Historical Papers of the Society of the 
Sons of the American Revolution in 
the District of Columbia, No. 3, J 900 



t^^ 



The Declaration of 
Independence 



^f^ 



HONORABLE HENRY B. R MACFARLAND 




Class _e_J^ 
Rnnk N '4 



'X- 




Statue of Washington, 
The Gift of the Women of America to France. 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.* 

"Thi; Declaration of Independence is as much alive to-day 
as when it was born one hundred and twenty-four years ago. 
It is immortal. Its vitality is attested by the fresh interest in 
it during the past year when it has been more discussed in 
Congress and in the press than in any former year. Although 
it is the Bible of our politics, enshrined in the hearts of our 
people and beyond criticism, beyond eulogy, it is, like the 
Bible of our religion, subject to interpretation. No political 
sect can claim it as exclusively its own, all political sects 
may claim an equal title to it. As on this Independence 
Day we rise to an independence of political parties, rise from 
being Republicans or Democrats to be Americans, so we may 
assert amid our conflicting opinions about the Declaration of 
Independence, that it is our common possession, our common 
source of inspiration. No individual or set of individuals 
can monopolize either the immortal Declaration or the 
American flag, but there is enough of both for us all. Ex- 
pansionist or anti-expansionist, strict constructionist or lib- 
eral constructionist, whatever we may be called, we are one in 
our admiration and veneration for this great paper issued by 
a Congress unexcelled, as Lord Chatham said, 'in solidity of 
reasoning, force of sagacity and wisdom of conclusion.' No 
one now reads Magna Charta. It is only a name to round 
a period. No one but lawyers and students reads the Con- 
stitution of the United States, but we all read the Declaration 
of Independence at least once a year, and its striking pas- 
sages are household words. None of us look at the original 
in the safe at the library of the State Department without a 
thrill of exaltation. 

"Yet we may and do honestly dififer about it. Is it poetry? 
Is it prose ? The senior senator from the State of Massachu- 

* Oration of Hon. Henry B. F. Macfarland delivered before the Society 
of the Sons of the American Revolution, Washington, D. C.,July 4, 1900. 



4 THE de;,claration oi? independence;. 

setts, where Samuel Adams began the agitation for a 
declaration of independence, takes one view of it in his great 
speech on the Philippine question, the junior senator from 
that same commonwealth in his great speech on the Philip- 
pine question takes another view of it. Are those famous 
declarations in the Declaration only the 'glittering generali- 
ties' that Rufus Choate said they were, or are they very 
truth of very truth and to be taken literally? In this case 
does the letter kill while the spirit makes ahve? These and 
like questions run through the high debate over this great 
document. I like to think that it is both poetry and prose, 
according to the genius of our race. We are at once the most 
sentimental and the most practical people on earth. Our 
story as a nation, the most marvelous in all history, is poetry 
and prose interwoven. It could not be written otherwise. 
And in spite of the manifold material changes of this century, 
the opening of the mechanical age, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence still represents fully our national life. 

" 'I could not write my poem and so I lived it,' said 
Thoreau. This might well have been said by the stern poets 
of action who published the Declaration of Independence to 
the world. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin 
Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston — the com- 
mittee of Congress to prepare the document — these are men 
of prose, you say, lawyers, statesmen, men of affairs, stand- 
ing solidly on the ground and looking at men and not at 
stars, 

"They, and the men whom they represented, went about 
this matter in the old-fashioned, practical, cautious way of 
our race. They made no declaration of independence until 
all the world knew that the colonies were, in fact, indepen- 
dent, if not free. It was a record of what had been accom- 
phshed, not an announcement of what was desired. More 
than a year had elapsed since the 'embattled farmers' of 
Lexington and Concord 'fired the shot heard 'round the 
world.' It was more than a year since the American militia 
at Bunker Hill won a moral victory over the British regulars. 
It was more than a year since George Washington took com- 



THE DECLARATION OE INDEPENDENCE. 5 

mand of an army which in itself was an evidence of indepen- 
dence. 

"The thirteen colonies were governing themselves indi- 
vidually, and as a federation, in practical separation from the 
British Government, and the British army was vainly en- 
deavoring to coerce them into subjection before they were 
willing to put it all down in black and white. Nothing is 
plainer now, as we study the letters and speeches of the lead- 
ers of the Revolution, than that they were reluctant to press 
for independence, and that Samuel Adams was the only one 
who desired it from an early period in the struggle, while the 
majority of the people of the colonies were more faithfully 
represented by a strong minority of the leaders who opposed 
it to the last. 

"The idea we got from our school histories, as children, 
that 'the unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States 
of America' was literally the unanimous declaration of the 
people of those States, or even of their leaders, we know now 
was mythical, but even Lexington and Concord and Bunker 
Hill, the leadership of Washington and the incessant endeav- 
ors of Jefferson and the Adamses overcame with dififtculty 
the opposition to separation from Great Britain. It is safe 
to say, according to the latest and best historians, that if the 
people had been polled on the question, the majority would 
have voted against independence, and that this would have 
been true whether the voting was done by the limited number 
then entitled to vote or whether all the adult population took 
part. As a matter of fact, of course, the Continental Congress, 
which was the Government of the Revolution, derived its just 
powers from the consent of the governed without any formal 
ascertainment of the wishes of the governed, and, as Judge 
Story shows in his 'Commentaries on the Constitution,' the 
wishes of the majority of the governed were not regarded. 

"It is difificult for us to realize how unpopular the idea of 
separation from Great Britain was. Listen to this testimony 
from John Adams, writing in his old age in 1822 of the ar- 
rival at Philadelphia in 1774 of the Massachusetts delegation 



6 THE DKCIvARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

to the first Congress. Bear in mind that there was a strong 
sentiment against independence in his own State : 

" 'We were met at Frankfort by Dr. Rush, Mr. Mifflin, Mr. 
Bayard and several other of the most active sons of liberty 
in Philadelphia, who desired a conference with us. We in- 
vited them to take tea with us in a private apartment. They 
asked leave to give us some information and advice, which 
we thankfully granted. They represented to us that the 
friends of government in Boston and in the Eastern States 
had represented us to the Middle and South as four desperate 
adventurers. 

" 'Mr. Gushing was a harmless kind of man, but poor, and 
wholly dependent upon his popularity for his subsistence. 
Mr. Samuel Adams was a very artful, designing man, but 
desperately poor and wholly dependent on his popularity with 
the lowest vulgar for his living. 

" 'John Adams and Mr. Paine were two young lawyers, of 
no great talents, reputation or weight, who had no other 
means of raising themselves into consequence than by court- 
ing popularity. We were all suspected of wishing indepen- 
dence. Now, said they, you must not utter the word inde- 
. pendence, nor give the least hint or insinuation of the idea 
either in Congress or any private conversation; if you do, 
you are undone ; for independence is as unpopular in the Mid- 
dle or South as the Stamp Act itself. No man dares to speak 
of it. ****** You are thought to be too warm. 
You must not come forward with any bold measure; you 
must not pretend to take the lead. 

" 'You know Virginia is the most popular State in the 
Union — very proud — they think they have a right to lead. 
The South and Middle are too much disposed to yield to it.' 

"This was plain dealing, but it made a deep impression. 
That conversation has given a coloring to the whole policy 
of the United States from that day to this. 

"You remember that in October, 1775, six months after 
Lexington and Concord, even John Adams, writing to his 
wife, said : 

" 'The situation of things is so alarming that it is our duty 



THE DECIvARATlON OF INDEPENDENCE. 7 

to prepare our minds and hearts for every event, even the 
worst. From my earhest entrance into life I have been en- 
gaged in the pubUc cause of America, and from first to last 
I have had upon my mind a strong impression that things 
would be wrought up to their present crisis. I saw from the 
beginning that the controversy was of such a nature that it 
never would be settled, and every day convinces me more and 
more. 

" 'This has been the source of all the disquietude of my life. 
It has lain down and risen up with me these twelve years. 
The thought that we might be driven to the sad necessity of 
breaking our connection with Great Britain, exclusive of the 
carnage and destruction which it was easy to see must attend 
the separation, always gave me a great deal of grief. And 
even now, I would gladly retire from pubHc life forever, re- 
nounce all chance for profits or honors from the public ; nay, 
I would cheerfully contribute my little property to obtain 
peace and liberty. But all these must go, and my life, too, 
before I can surrender the right of my country to a free con- 
stitution. I dare not consent to it. I should be the most mis- 
erable of mortals ever after, whatever honors or emoluments 
might surround me.' 

"George Washington, who knew the opinion of his time 
more accurately than most men, wrote to his friend. Captain 
MacKenzie, of the British army, in 1774, what was unques- 
tionably a summary of the most American sentiment of that 
year: 

" 'Permit me, with the freedom of a friend (for you know I 
always esteemed you), to express my sorrow that fortune 
should place you in a service that must fix curses to the latest 
posterity upon the contrivers, and, if success (which, by the 
way, is impossible) accompanies it, execrations upon all 
those who have been instrumental in the execution. 

" 'Give me leave to add, and I think I can announce it as 
a fact, that it is not the intent or wish of that government 
(Massachusetts), or any other upon this continent, separately 
or collectively, to set up for independence ; but this you may 
at the same time rely on, that none of them will ever submit 



8 THE DECIvARATlON OI? INDEPENDENCE. ' 

to the loss of those valuable rights and privileges v^hich are 
essential to the happiness of every free state, and without 
which life, liberty and property are rendered totally insecure. 
Again give me leave to add, as my opinion, that more blood 
will be spilled on this occasion, if the ministry are determined 
to push matters to extremity, than history has ever yet fur- 
nished instances of in the annals of North America, and such 
a vital wound will be given to the peace of this great country 
as time itself cannot cure or eradicate the remembrance of.' 

"As late as the nth of February, 1776, John Adams wrote 
from Philadelphia to his wife : 'There is a deep anxiety, a kind 
of thoughtful melancholy, and in some a lowness of spirits 
approaching to despondency prevailing through the southern 
colonies at present. In this or a similar condition we shall 
remain, I think, until late in the spring, when some critical 
event will take place; perhaps sooner. But the Arbiter of 
events only knows which way the torrent will be turned. 
Judging by experience, by probabilities, and by all appear- 
ances, I conclude it will roll on to dominion and glory, though 
the circumstances and consequences may be bloody.' But he 
could still say, with sarcasm, 'If a post or two more should 
bring you unlimited latitude of trade to all nations and a po- 
lite invitation to all nations to trade with you, take care that 
you do not call it or think it independency ; no such matter ; 
independency is a hobgoblin of such frightful mien that it 
would throw a delicate person into fits to look it in the face.' 

"Slowly, gradually, keeping step with their colonies, the 
delegates in Congress were pushed forward by events, the 
conservatives yielding only to the force of destiny and fight- 
ing against independence to the end. Even after the ap- 
pointment of the committee to prepare the Declaration of 
Independence in June, even after its report, they maintained 
the resistance. Thomas Jefferson, who had written the 
Declaration, with slight assistance from John Adams and 
Benjamin Franklin, as we see in the rough draft in the library 
at the State Department, was no debater, and he sat silent 
through the great three days' discussion of his production, 
gratefully hailing John Adams, who bore the brunt of its de- 



THE DECLARATION OE INDEPENDENCE. 9 

fence, as 'the Colossus of that debate.' But the fight was won 
on the second day of July, when the Declaration was adopted. 
John Adams was able to write to his wife on the third in the 
words that are commonly quoted for the fourth of July, be- 
cause we celebrate the signing and not the adoption of the 
Declaration: 

" 'Yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever 
was debated in America, and greater, perhaps, never was nor 
will be decided among men. 

" 'The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable 
epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it 
will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great an- 
niversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day 
of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. 
It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, 
games, sports, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end 
of this continent to the other, and from this time forward for 
evermore. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, 
but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and 
treasure it will cost us to maintain this Declaration and sup- 
port and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I 
can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that 
the end is more than worth all the means ; and that posterity 
will triumph in that day's transaction even though we should 
rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.' 

"Samuel Adams, the agitator of independence, the arch- 
revolutionist, the first modern politician, the first modern 
editor, who did more than any other man to make the public 
opinion of his time, wrote to his friend, John Pitts, of Boston : 
" 'It must be allowed by the impartial world that this 
Declaration has not been made rashly — too much, I fear, has 
been lost by delay, but an accession of several colonies has 
been gained by it.' 

"This tells the story of the evolution through revolution to 
independence under Anglo-Saxon methods. And these men, 
who knew how to wait as well as how to act, knew how to 
compromise and how to negotiate with their opponents, as 
well as how to fight, adopted the Declaration of Indepen- 



lO THE DECLARATION OE INDEPENDENCE. 

dence with eyes wide open to the actual circumstances and 
conditions. They knew, for example, that there were slaves 
in the colonies. The Congress actually struck out of Jeffer- 
son's draft a denunciation of George III for encouraging the 
slave trade to America, by refusing to ratify the enactments 
of southern colonies against it. They knew too, that besides 
the African slaves there were white semi-slaves, 'redemption- 
ers' and the like, who v/ere also not 'equal' before the law or 
in any other way with themselves, to say nothing of the 
natural inequalities or the then existing legal differences be- 
tween men and women, which they also fully recognized. 

"All this must be remembered when we read that they de- 
clared that 'all men are created equal' and that among their 
'unalienable rights' are 'life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
piness,' and the words can be construed fairly only when this 
is remembered. 

"But these shrewd, strong m.en of prose were men of 
poetry, too. Sense and sentiment were joined in them. They 
were seers. They saw farther into their time and farther into 
the future than any other men. They belonged to the noble 
company of those 'who through faith subdued kingdoms, 
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the 
mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the 
edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, waxed 
mighty in war, turned to flight armies of aliens.' They saw 
ideals so clearly that they were constrained to follow them. 
They were not visionaries, but they were not disobedient to 
the Heavenly vision. These men who wrenched this conti- 
nent from the king's hand, who laid the foundations of this 
mighty nation, cannot be understood unless we realize that 
they were men of imagination and of spiritual force, poets 
in the highest sense of the word. This explains why tliey 
carried on upon these shores, the battle for political freedom, 
of Hampden and Pym and Cromwell, fighting side by side, 
so to speak, with Pitt and Fox and Burke, even while the ma- 
jority of the people on both sides of the sea clung to the old 
order, blind followers of the blind conservatives. 

"Contrast George Washington with George HI, waiving 



TIIIJ DKCr^ARATlON OP IND^PElNDENCl];. 



II 



temporarily the moral and intellectual superiority of Wash- 
ington,' and you will understand why each played the part he 
took in that great hour of our history. George Washington 
was the most sensible of men, soHd, sagacious, practical, even 
prosaic in ordinary life, and he never wrote anything that 
could be called poetry except a few love verses in his courting 
days. But he could see what the dull Boeotian king of Eng"^ 
land could not see, and so he could do, and did do, what the 
Dutch monarch could never have thought of doing. Wash- 
ington, we are told, 'thought continentally.' He saw beyond 
the Alleghenies— yes, beyond the Mississippi. He sought to 
hold the continent for his race and to bind the east and west 
together with roads and canals for the future greatness, 
which was real to him. He saw the purer state, the better 
government, the larger life, of a republic— independent not 
only of British tyranny, but of European prejudices and tra- 
ditions, customs and quarrels. He saw ideals which made all 
sacrifices reasonable. Above all, he labored and endured as 
seeing Him who is invisible. 

"When the new-born nation went down into the valley of 
the shadow of death at Valley Forge, Washington went down 
upon his knees to God and prayed for his people Hke Moses 
or Joshua. In the terrible hour when Washington was the 
government, dictator by unanimous consent, and without 
appointment, because no other man could save the state and 
the Revolution seemed more Hkely to fail than to succeed, 
he rose to his greatest height as he turned to Heaven for the 
aid earth could not give. 

"The men who made the Declaration of Independence and 
then made it good, left us a goodly heritage, spiritual as well 
as material. They freed us forever from the fear of foreign 
tyranny. We dread no foreign foe. We are now the arbiters, 
if not the masters, of the world, and where we sit at the coun- 
cil of the nations is the head of the table. Our flag floats over 
countries that George Washington saw dimly, if at all, and 
millions live under its beauty and blessing who cannot'read 
the Declaration of Independence in the original. We have 
not only political independence, but political domination in 



12 the; DECI.ARATION OF INDEpKNDENCF. 

the world's affairs. But, as Washington foresaw in his Fare- 
well Address, we are in danger from foes within the state, 
from foes within ourselves. 'Where there is no vision the 
people perish.' Our political independence, our material 
power and wealth, will not save us from the moral slavery of 
Rome and Greece, which ended in destruction. If, in self- 
indulgence, we yield to the blandishments of materialism, we 
shall find our strength gone, our limbs bound, our eyes put 
out, the vision ended, the glory departed. 

"It is the duty of every patriot to lift up the standard of 
personal and civic righteousness, lest the enemy come in like 
a flood and sweep away our real independence. It is not 
enough to admire and applaud the heroes of the past ; we 
ourselves must be the heroes and, if needs be, the martyrs 
of the present. In the faith that the patriots of America will 
keep alive forever the true 'spirit of ^yd^ the spirit of self- 
sacrifice, of splendid courage, and of reverent trust in God 
and obedience to His will, we may rejoice in the glorious 
prospects of the Republic. 

"Our fathers' God, to Thee, 
Author of Liberty, 

To Thee we sing; 
Long may our land be bright 
With Freedom's holy light; 
Protect us by Thy might, 
Great God, our King." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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